


keep your enemies close

by karone (nekrateholic)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stargate Atlantis Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28304493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekrateholic/pseuds/karone
Summary: Jaemin has an interesting encounter.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20
Collections: kbas secret santa 2020





	keep your enemies close

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xies/gifts).



> tried for enemies to lovers, not quite sure if i got there but i hope you enjoy nonetheless <3

The people of Venix. The biggest threat on this side of the galaxy,  _ Venixians  _ whispered with fear and hatred among many a planet. Fierce warriors who stop at nothing in their quest to conquer, fight, kill merely for the thrill of it. 

Jaemin had found them fascinating once, when they first encountered a planet that had fallen victim to the Venixian wrath. 

He sort of finds them fascinating now too, when an intimidating sword is pressed into his throat. Jaemin is a great fighter; you have to have at least  _ some  _ combat skills to be allowed on a mission in outer space but Jaemin is not a scientist, so he has to be great. It didn’t help him. 

The Venixian is staring down at him, expression unreadable. He looks unnervingly human, so much so that it would be impossible to tell him apart from any regular member of Jaemin’s crew, had it not been for the tan none of them have had since they came here, the intricate armor and a neat line of scales running down each of his arms. 

He’s beautiful, and with an odd sense of detachment, Jaemin thinks it’s nice that at least he’ll get to look at something nice in his final moments.

The sword presses closer to Jaemin’s throat, slicing neatly through the collar of his suit. It does not break skin.

There is a shout somewhere behind them and Jaemin’s in-ear translator whirrs to life a moment later, its mechanical little voice rattling off  _ Commander Lee!  _ in a bad interpretation of the tone it was shouted in.

The Venixian whips back, his sword never faltering. He gives Jaemin another unreadable look.

Just in the last ten minutes, Jaemin has witnessed two of his crewmates be ruthlessly slaughtered with no hesitation. The deaths meant nothing; both people were powerless and the V enixians already had their ZPM, judging by the more power-consuming parts of Neo-Atlantis already shutting down. 

Jaemin’s death would mean nothing, too.

_ Commander Lee _ pushes the blade even closer, just enough for Jaemin to feel it against the skin of his neck.

Between one blink and the next the pressure at Jaemin’s neck is gone and so is Commander Lee. Jaemin allows his body to relax and the strength whooshes out of him, leaving him slumped on the floor, eyes on the ceiling and mind working overtime to make up for what his body can’t do.

*

It’s Renjun that finds him, who knows how many hours later. Maybe it’s just minutes, maybe it’s a day. Jaemin isn’t sure.

“What are you doing here? Everyone was looking for you.” Renjun starts, voice impassive but like always, his eyes betray what he doesn’t say. He’s scanning Jaemin for injuries, breath hitching when he sees Jaemin’s neck.

“I’m fine,” Jaemin laughs, a little hollow. Why is he even alive? “I was attacked but the Venixian was called away before he could finish me off.”

Renjun nods, like that explains it; it doesn’t. Distraction hadn’t worked out for so many people tonight.

“Jeno and Doyoung are critical, Mark and Jisung have some heavy injuries but will live,” Renjun rattles off as he helps Jaemin up. “We have eleven deaths, mainly engines crew where the assholes entered. Taeyong wants to hold a meeting as soon as everyone is accounted for.”

Maybe it’s shock, maybe something broke in Jaemin’s brain when he was attacked but he registers the criticals only vaguely, like something that’s happening away from him. Maybe to someone he doesn’t know. A distant part of him judges him for it, Jeno is one of his closest people on the ship. And yet.

As Renjun helps him get to infirmary for a check-up, Commander Lee’s cold, unreadable eyes flash in his brain like a huge, warning light.

*

About an hour later, they have the full scope of the damage. There are two more dead, a few more sent to infirmary with major but non-lethal injuries. 

Taeyong looks more gloomy than normal when he gathers them in the less wrecked part of the cafeteria. 

“We’re going to have to relocate soon. Venixians aren’t really known for attacking the same place twice but this fast but nothing stops them from spreading our location. They're not the only threat out there.”

"At least we have the advantage of Wraith not being the friendliest race out there," Johnny adds. It's meant to be a joke but no one laughs, Johnny included. 

Chenle taps at his tablet a few times, then clears his throat. "The distance we can go without the ZPM is insignificant. Most of our shields are still up and the invisibility one can be fixed but there's only so long it can last on engines alone."

He doesn't have the authority to say what they're all thinking. 

"We're going to start gathering volunteers to retrieve the ZPM from Venix within an hour," Taeyong says, looking at no one in particular. "Someone has to and I have my picks but I can't force any of you to go. At least we have an advantage this time."

The meeting is over before Jaemin finally processes the words. 

He catches up to Renjun, falling in step without much trouble. "What advantage was Taeyong talking about?" 

"Ah sorry," Renjun startles, then gives him a small smile. "I forgot to tell you earlier. We have ourselves a Venixian prisoner."

*

Being the military part of field teams, Jaemin has clearance for almost every part of the ship. Still, Yuta and Ten don't look too happy letting him go down the stairs to their holding cell. At least they don't tag along to babysit. 

A whole new wave of relief washes over Jaemin when he sees just who their prisoner is. 

Commander Lee has the exact same cold, empty stare Jaemin remembers has burned into his mind. He's sitting on the bench like he's waiting for his coffee, instead of being imprisoned by the enemy.

Something flashes in those same eyes when he notices Jaemin and Jaemin shivers. The holding cell is cold, he rationalizes. That's the only reason why. 

There is a small table just outside the cell's bars, in clear view yet well out of reach from inside. It has a jug of water and what Jaemin imagines are leftovers from the dinner they had before the attack. He pours water into a plastic cup and carefully pushes it through a small steel door not connected to the force field around the cell, created specifically for this purpose. 

"I'm meant to be kept starving and thirsty so I can break and tell you how to get to Venix," commander Lee says. Jaemin almost drops the cup in his hand. 

Unlike his appearance, the commander's voice is high and sweet, reminds Jaemin of the spicy hot chocolate his mom used to make. Jaemin's brand new in-ear is faster to translate the words this time but Jaemin isn't in a hurry to respond. 

"Would it?" He asks in the end. "I feel like it would be hard for something like this to break someone like you." 

There's a smile playing on Commander Lee's lips. It's a fascinating sight, how a thing so simple as a smile changes someone. Too late, Jaemin realizes that it's very unlikely that their prisoner was provided with an in-ear as well. Even later, Jaemin realizes that it does not look like this is a problem.

"I speak many languages, lieutenant," the commander says in perfect Korean. 

For a moment, Jaemin feels incredibly silly. It feels like a petty joke at his expense and Jaemin has to forcibly remind himself that the creature in front of him was among the reasons thirteen members of his team will not be going back home.

Belatedly, Jaemin realizes he’s still holding the cup. He leaves it inside, letting the small door flop shut after him. 

“Won’t you get in trouble for doing that?” Commander Lee asks, giving him a curious look. It’s the third sign of emotion Jaemin has witnessed within the past ten minutes and if the Venixian race was interesting to him before, by now he is absolutely fascinated.

Jaemin shrugs. “The sustenance door isn’t connected to the force field around your cell or the main ship computer. And no order about feeding you was never relayed to me anyway. What’s your name?”

He’s not exactly sure why he wants to know. He didn’t mean to ask,  _ commander Lee _ should suffice.

And yet.

“You may call me Donghyuck,” comes the answer. Jaemin narrows his eyes and  _ Donghyuck  _ raises an eyebrow. “It’s the closest to my name in your language.”

“Jaemin,” Jaemin says without thinking. “Na Jaemin. That’s my real name, though.”

Donghyuck considers him for a moment. “You’re a strange one, aren’t you, lieutenant Na?”

Truth to be told, Jaemin has no idea what he expected from this conversation. Maybe an explanation why he is alive? And why an alien warrior decided to let himself be caught. There is no doubt in Jaemin’s mind that Donghyuck would’ve been perfectly capable of escaping, has no doubt even now. And yet he’s just sitting there in Neo-Atlantis’ holding cell, expression once again unreadable.

Jaemin doesn’t know how to answer the question, so he doesn’t. He takes the stairs with a little more urgency that he’d like to admit, Donghyuck’s eyes burning holes into his back all the way up.

*

He’s pulled into a meeting with Taeyong as soon as he steps a foot out of the basement.

“I’m going to ignore you going against my orders for the time being but we will talk about it once this is over.” Taeyong starts with a sigh. “You seem to have some sort of a rapport with our guest. I would like to use that to our advantage.”

Jaemin wouldn’t call it rapport, really, but Taeyong doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to listen. 

*

The plan is easy: they get Donghyuck to key in Venix’s coordinates and gate him, Jaemin plus back up in the form of Chenle and Johnny to Venix, where they will ideally recover the ZPM and return in one piece, hopefully without Donghyuck.

Jaemin’s role is to get Donghyuck to agree. Everyone else’s - to survive.

Convincing Donghyuck goes surprisingly well, with Donghyuck simply shrugging away Jaemin’s attempts at negotiation.

_ I don’t care, lieutenant Na. You are welcome to gather your team and attack us at our own land. It would be a fun battle. _

The gate takes them to an empty field at the edge of a treeline, and that’s where things start going  _ bad. _ Within seconds of their arrival, Donghyuck’s restraints are snapped in half, like they were made of paper instead of the strongest metal Earth can produce. A moment later and Johnny and Chenle are restrained instead, thrown right back through the gate before Donghyuck disables it entirely. 

Where there were four of them moments ago, Jaemin stares at a smirking Donghyuck. Briefly, he considers attacking but even in the unlikely event of him actually overpowering Donghyuck, Jaemin has no idea how to dial up the gate back to Neo-Atlantis. That’s what Chenle was for.

For the first time, Jaemin feels a twinge of real fear in the face of Lee Donghyuck, a Venixian commander who’s had one too many opportunities to kill him.

“If I was planning to hurt you I would have a long time ago,” Donghyuck points out, taking the few steps that separate him from Jaemin. Soon enough, Jaemin finds himself restrained as well, with Donghyuck leading him into the trees like he’s a mere prisoner.

_ That’s exactly what you are,  _ Jaemin’s brain helpfully supplies.

“What did I just say?” Donghyuck sighs, the restraints around Jaemin’s wrists squeezing tighter. “I’ll help you get your ZPM and go home but I did not like your entourage. And you’re like this,” he tugs at Jaemin’s restraints again, “because if any ordinary Venixian sees you wandering around by yourself, you’ll be dead within seconds. You’re too pretty to die.”

Jaemin blinks, turning to face Donghyuck for the first time. “You think I’m pretty? Is this why you keep not killing me?”

“What can I say,” Donghyuck shrugs, expression unreadable again but Jaemin is somewhat pleased to notice he won’t meet his eyes. “Warrior life gets lonely.”

“Does it now,” Jaemin grins. Donghyuck cuts him a look but Jaemin no longer cares about Donghyuck’s threatening glances or the fact that he’s the enemy on an extremely hostile planet. The whole situation is  _ hilarious. _

Maybe Jaemin imagines it, but it looks a lot like Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “We use your ZPM in a ritual,” he glances at the two suns shining away in the sky. “It should be ongoing right about now but once night falls, it’ll be relatively unguarded. I’ll take you there once the second sun sets. Until then,” Donghyuck vaguely gestures at a small clearing between the trees. It’s then that Jaemin notices that there is a small house, tucked in between the trees on the other side of the clearing.

He glances at it, then at Donghyuck. The restraints slip off his wrists and Jaemin rubs at the soreness.

“Well then, commander Lee Donghyuck,” he says, turning to face Donghyuck fully now. The scales along his arms glitter in whatever light gets through the trees and Jaemin’s stomach swirls with anticipation and maybe a twinge of fear still. Jaemin traces the buttons of his uniform slowly, enjoying the way Donghyuck’s eyes follow the movement. He pops the first one. “Shall I help with that loneliness you mentioned earlier while we wait?”

*

The actual retrieval of the ZPM goes about as smooth as possible. There really isn’t anyone around once Donghyuck takes him there and by the time the Venixians notice there is something wrong Jaemin is already at the gate. Donghyuck fixes the dialpad with ease Jaemin is a little jealous of, then dials the gate that will take Jaemin back home.

As the gate whirs behind them, Jaemin blows Donghyuck a kiss with the hand not holding the ZPM. “Until next time, Commander.”

This time Donghyuck definitely rolls his eyes. "Maybe next time we meet I really will kill you."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see," Jaemin winks, then steps into the gate before Donghyuck decides there is no time like the present. 


End file.
